We’re Engaged!

On our way to see Phantom of the Opera

Travis proposed on January 3, 2009 at the Orpheum Theater. Why were we at the Orpheum you ask? Well, Travis got me the best Christmas gift ever – tickets to see Phantom of the Opera! I had always dreamed of seeing the show so we drove down to San Francisco and had a great day playing tourists.

It was a really wonderful and romantic day. We had a great lunch, strolled hand in hand down the Wharf, and enjoyed doing cheesy things like going to the Aquarium.

Then we checked into our hotel, got all dressed up and went to dinner. Of course, being the country bumpkins we are, we didn’t make any reservations and ended up eating at a small pizza place (which made the day that much more awesome because I love me some pizza). After eating our delicious dinner we grabbed a cab and headed to the theater.

We were standing in the lobby, waiting for the doors to open, and I told Travis that this was the best Christmas gift anyone had ever given me.

“Really?”, he said, “Someone has to have given you a better present. Think about it.”

“No,” I replied. “This is the best gift because you made a dream come true for me.”

“No, someone has had to get you a better gift.”

I say no again and he goes on to ask me many, many times if this is the best gift. Over and over again I tell him yes, absolutely, positively, without a doubt.

We head to the bar where Travis orders a double. I should have known something was up, but I thought he was just trying to prepare himself to sit through the two plus hours of Phantom.

Finally, they open the doors and we are escorted to our seats. The theater is beautiful in that old theater kind of way. Looking around, you know that everything has been created by hand right down to the ornate carvings.

I start to read the Playbill and Travis asks me again if this is the best Christmas present anyone has ever given me. I turn to him and say an exasperated yes. Then he pulls an open ring box out of his pocket and says, “Well, wouldn’t this make it better?”

“Jennifer Durnan, will you marry me?,” he says.

The ring!

Instant tears come to my eyes as I realize this is the moment that I have been waiting for, expecting, hoping will happen. I’m speechless until I manage to utter, “Seriously?”

Somehow I pull myself together and say,”Yes, of course.”

We stare in awe at each other that somehow in this crazy old world we have found each other. He is going to be my husband, I think. How could I be this lucky? I’m overwhelmed. I want to stand up and scream We are engaged!This is my future husband! I don’t want this day, this night, this moment to ever end and in the background the theme song from Phantom of the Opera begins…